Child returned to Roma family in Ireland

IRISH police who took a second child away from a Roma family have handed the boy back to his parents.

The child was removed on Tuesday night from a family living in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

Police officers took the boy into social care but then gave him back to his family yesterday.

The move comes as it was announced that a girl removed from another Roma family in Dublin will be reunited with her parents after DNA tests proved she is their daughter. The sevenyear-old had been in state care in Ireland for two nights after a member of the public raised concerns about her appearance compared to relatives. The parents, who are in their thirties, maintained their child was born in Dublin in 2006.

The only similarity between this case and that of Maria, the seven-year-old girl found in a gypsy settlement in Greece, is that both children had a different appearance from that of the couple they were living with. Meanwhile, a second Roma couple have been arrested in Greece on suspicion of abducting a child. Police said yesterday that the man and woman, both in their twenties, had been charged with child abduction and were expected to respond to the allegations later in the week.

The two-month-old baby was found living with them on the island of Lesvos.

“The initial evidence strongly indicates that they are not the parents of the baby,” police said.